Juwan Howard's $25 Million Coral Gables Sale Caps a Big Week for Miami's Waterfront Trophy Homes

CORAL GABLES — Two-time NBA champion Juwan Howard bought a lot in one of Coral Gables’ most private enclaves in 2013 for $3.4 million. This fall he sold the custom estate he built there for $25 million, and the deal landed in a week when several other big Miami waterfront sales came to light.

Taken together, the deals show that the top end of Miami-Dade’s housing market is still moving. Sellers aren’t always getting their asking prices, but buyers keep paying eight figures for new construction, water access and privacy.

A Builder’s Payday in Journey’s End

Howard, who won back-to-back titles with the Miami Heat in 2012 and 2013, sold his newly completed mansion in Journey’s End, a gated waterfront community off Old Cutler Road near Matheson Hammock Park and Marina, the Miami Herald reported. The home is one of only 18 estates in the community.

The South Florida Business Journal identified the address as 9440 Old Cutler Lane and said the seven-bedroom house was designed by architect Kobi Karp. The sale price works out to about $2,471 per square foot on a 1.73-acre lot.

According to the Herald, the roughly 10,000-square-foot house has seven bedrooms and eight bathrooms, a 75-foot pool, a floating staircase, 23-foot ceilings, a wellness suite, a wine room, a media room, a detached four-car garage and a deeded boat slip with access to a private marina.

The buyer didn’t get the full asking price. Howard listed the home in June for $28.9 million, down from an original $31.5 million ask in 2025, according to Yahoo Sports reporting cited by the Herald. Lauren Schrager and Toni Schrager of Brown Harris Stevens represented Howard. Lauren Schrager confirmed the sale to The Wall Street Journal but declined to identify the buyer.

Even at a discount to the list price, the deal is a big win for the developer. Howard paid $3.4 million for the land 13 years ago, and he built the house himself. That’s the business model behind much of Miami’s luxury market right now: buy a well-located waterfront lot, build something new and high-spec, and sell to buyers who would rather not wait years for a custom build.

$72 Million on North Bay Road

The spec-home strategy showed up at an even bigger price across the bay. Bay House, a newly built two-story mansion at 2740 N. Bay Road in Miami Beach’s Sunset Lake area, sold for $72 million in an off-market deal that closed Aug. 10, 2026, Groundbreak reported on Nov. 6. That makes it the priciest North Bay Road home sale of 2026.

The nearly 10,000-square-foot residence has seven bedrooms, seven bathrooms and a pool. The buyer was Par Real Estate Trust, with Greg Henning as trustee, and the sellers were Ilya Karpov’s AI Global Investment LLC and OGO Development LLC. Mirce Curkoski and Albert Justo of ONE Sotheby’s International Realty brokered the deal.

Karpov paid $20.8 million for the 0.6-acre vacant lot in 2022. The city’s Historic Preservation Board had approved demolition of an August Geiger house on the site in 2018, and that house came down in March 2021. Koda Architecture + Interior Design drew the plans for the new home.

Island Penthouses and Mid-Beach Resales

Condos are part of the story too. The top residential sale reported in Miami-Dade for the week ending Nov. 1 was a penthouse at Palazzo Della Luna on Fisher Island, which sold for $37.8 million, according to RealtyWire. Built in 2019, the unit has 9,852 square feet of interior space, seven bedrooms and a private rooftop terrace of more than 2,500 square feet with its own pool. The week’s five biggest sales totaled $72.682 million, and two of them were single-family homes in Coral Gables.

On La Gorce island in Mid-Beach, former Heat center Hassan Whiteside sold his waterfront home to real estate investor Jared Galbut for $12.55 million, Mansion Global reported. Whiteside bought the 5,400-square-foot house in 2016 for $7.3 million. It was listed in August for $14.8 million, and Galbut plans to expand and renovate it.

What It Means for Miami Builders and Investors

A few patterns stand out for entrepreneurs who build, broker or finance high-end homes:

• New construction sells. Both Bay House and Howard’s estate were newly finished homes, and they brought the biggest prices of the bunch.
• Asking prices are flexible. Howard’s home sold about 13% below its June list price and well below its first ask. Whiteside’s sold below its August list price too. Buyers still have room to negotiate.
• Land bought years ago is paying off. Owners who bought waterfront land or homes five to 13 years ago are turning those purchases into large gains.
• Water access drives value. Deeded boat slips, docks and bay frontage come up again and again in these listings.

For Miami’s luxury builders, the message is simple: well-located waterfront land and finished homes in move-in condition are still what top buyers pay for. Price is no longer the one thing that decides whether a deal closes.